Granny D is ABB!

[gully]

http://grannyd.com/speech20030308.htm

"The man in the White House believes that, when our American soldiers start coming home to our communities in coffins, we will rally 'round him -- that we will forget what he did to our budget surpluses, our Social Security funds, our Medicare, our pensions and stocks. Merciless rulers from time out of mind have tried that bloody distraction. We are not distracted by the blood of our own sons and daughters, Mr. Bush. Each drop of that precious blood calls our hearts to an election next year and we are an army of people who come against you at the ballot box. Harm our children and watch us.

In the 2004 presidential election, we must not split our vote between Greens and Democrats. I know the Greens have party building to do, but, if Mr. Bush wins again, there will be no America for them to build their party in. So they must defer this time and earn our respect and admiration for doing so."

Gotta love Granny D! It is my hope that she will live to see her dream come true.

Read more of her words here...

http://www.grannyd.com

[hippywife]

1. Yes and she also

supports Dennis for Pres!

Statement from Granny D
Granny D (Doris Haddock) is the unstoppable social change activist, now in her 90s, from the first primary state of New Hampshire. At age 89, she wore out four sets of shoes and was hospitalized in Arizona for dehydration and pneumonia, but she would not be deterred as she marched for campaign reform from California to her triumphant arrival in Washington D.C. 14 months later. Now, she is on the march for Dennis.

"I am proud to endorse Dennis Kucinich for President.

When I walked 3,200 miles across the United States for campaign reform and inquired of people why they were not voting, they said: 'Find us someone who understands us, who cares about us.' I'm talking about people living in trailers, people living in small towns with boarded-up windows on Main Street, with drugstores, grocery stores, hardware stores
all eaten up by Wal-Mart, Costco, CVS Drugs, Home Depot, and other monsters several miles beyond the town. People coming out of farmhouses in Iowa, squeezed out of their livelihood by stinking agri-hog farms, people coming out of tobacco fields, cotton fields, wheat fields, people living in cities who have been out of work for over a year, people whose well-paid jobs have been shipped overseas, people desperate for relief from the oppressions of our corporatized and disempowered lives.

I promised to look for someone who would understand them, that had a vision of the future for them, that believed in Peace, Love, Justice. Well, here he is: Dennis Kucinich.

I believe he is the candidate who can bring new voters and disgruntled voters into the political process.

To those people I met on my walk across America: 'Now keep your promise to me and come out and vote for him! Hugs.'"


http://www.kucinich.us/wesupportdennis.htm

[gully]

2. That she does, but she'll vote Lieberman if it comes to that....

[ulysses]

3. she's also a fair trade advocate

There is a term now in common use in Latin America that is confusing to us Americans. It is called neoliberalism and it is a very dirty word indeed among the brave pro-democracy and fair trade groups throughout the Americas. "Neoliberal" sounds like the happy return of the Kennedys, but it is not. Nor is it about some resurgence of the liberal values of the Square Deal or the New Deal or the War on Poverty or any of those great moments when we called upon our best instincts to cooperatively address our largest needs as a free and self-governing people. The liberation that we meant then when we used the word "liberal" was the liberation from poverty, despair and ignorance, the liberation of the mind through public education, the liberation of the citizen through universal voting, equal rights and equal opportunity, and the freedom to prosper from the fruits of our labors. But that is not the liberal that is meant by neoliberal. It means newly free to rampage. It means free of government constraint. It means free trade over fair trade.

"Neoliberalism" refers to the liberation of a giant beast that we, the ordinary people of America&emdash;the farmers, the townsmen and townswomen, the trade unionists--tied down to the earth early in the 20th Century and it is that beast that has now gotten himself loose again to do great damage to us all. The deadly meanderings of this beast are most apparent in the most labor-intensive regions of the world, but the beast is here, too, and he has brought misery and suffering into your life and mine, stealing our water, blowing up our mountains, fouling our air and seas, and stealing our lives and our future at every turn. Neoliberalism is the colonialism department of neoconservatism.

http://grannyd.com/speech20030816.htm

[Terwilliger]

6. She says it with such aplomb

Neoliberalism is the colonialism department of neoconservatism.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Every time
you drop the bomb
You kill the god
your child has born

[gully]

8. She is against free trade...

But it seems she has her 'priorities' in order...

[ulysses]

10. by "priorities" I assume you mean the ABB thing.

Fine. I have no particular problem with someone voting ABB. Bush really does need to go, it's true.

I'll stand by my prediction, though, that once a Dem is voted into the presidency, half the people who have rediscovered political meaning in their lives in the last two and a half years will go back to sleep. And the underlying problems - like "free" trade - will remain.

[gully]

11. Yes I mean the ABB thing...

I think free trade is in need of some 'repair' that's for sure.

[ulysses]

12. a question then

How do we get that "repair" if we don't even demand it of our own candidates?

[gully]

13. We do! N/T

Off for a walk, must pull my arse away from DU!

Peace...

[ulysses]

14. ok, then - when you're back from your walk...

how do we put any teeth in the demand if we've already pledged our unwavering support to anyone with a (D) following their name?

[gully]

15. Ask Granny D, she's wiser then I...

Cheerio!



Edited to add, I like Deans solution to repair nafta, and trade with countries who adhere to certain standards...

But, that's a bit off topic. Perhaps you could start a thread?

[ulysses]

16. heh

Perhaps you could start a thread?

DU has had more than its share of threads asking that question.

[gully]

20. tis true...

[LWolf]

21. Here's how:

I've pledged support. It's never unwavering. A flipflop or an unethical action could always change it.

I researched the candidate, and found one with a platform that most closely aligns with mine. I went to meet my candidate, and put my questions to him in person. I didn't figure my personal sticking points would be soundbites interesting to the general population. So I got to talk to him one-on-one, with a group of people surrounding us, waiting for him to ascend the stairs and speak to all. Since my time was short, I asked him to address one issue: high-stakes testing. I didn't tell him my own perspective on it. He jumped right in. He said that testing kids to death doesn't teach them. That we needed to get the testocrats out of power and return to actually helping kids learn. That learning needed to include nurturing, creativity, and fun.

On the homefront, I'm drafting a letter for both Davis and Bustamonte on the issue. Davis has been a miserable failure on this issue. He's been a Pete Wilson clone when it comes to public ed in this state, as far as the conservative standards and accountability movement goes. If they don't respond, I may make it an open letter to the LA Times. That's teeth.

It looks like our teeth are only sharp during the election cycle.

[Terwilliger]

4. I knew you had some information about Granny D.

that's cool

now I see some info, but I don't see a link

[Terwilliger]

5. I got it ! I got it ! The link to Granny D.!!!

I know the person who transcribed this speech...we were at Arianna's shadow convention in Los Angeles

www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/3430

<snippet>

Friends, we are at that difficult time when we try to decide whether to support candidates who may not represent all our reform goals, but who may have a chance of winning and representing at least some of our goals.

That is a difficult choice for many people. I take the view that you should always vote your heart, whether your heart is with a major party candidate or a third party candidate, and let the chips fall where they may. See your vote as a long-term investment in the direction of America and the world, not a short-term investment in the political winds of the day. Every vote counts; every vote shapes the political landscape of the future. The only wasted vote is the vote not cast.

However we may vote, there is something we can all agree on, and something we can all do together over the next four years, regardless of who wins.

We now have public financing of campaigns in four states. That leaves forty-six others, plus the District of Columbia, where we must fight and win great battles together.

Each of us must help two ways. We must be mobile volunteers, and we must be check writers. It takes money to get money out of politics. The campaign in Arizona cost nearly a million dollars, but the success of that campaign is pushing fat cat interests right out the door, and the human scale is returning to campaign politics in that state, as it is Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine.

WHAT A GREAT IDEA! PUBLIC FINANCING OF CAMPAIGNS! LET'S SEE THE DEM PARTY SUPPORT OF PUBLIC FINANCING OF CAMPAIGNS! OK! LET ME KNOW!

[gully]

7. Thanks for the link to that 'old' story....

"TomPaine.com Shadow Convention Coverage: Granny D.'s Speech dated... July 31, 2000"

Seems she has since seen the importance of pragmitism, given the current climate.

[gully]

9. Public financing...

T said~"WHAT A GREAT IDEA! PUBLIC FINANCING OF CAMPAIGNS! LET'S SEE THE DEM PARTY SUPPORT OF PUBLIC FINANCING OF CAMPAIGNS! OK! LET ME KNOW!"

I'd like to see that too, though that's not the topic of the discussion here

And, if you check the record 138 Dems voted in favor of campaign finance reform and only about 2 Republicans... Go figure?

Do you guys share Granny D's position on the coming election?

[Terwilliger]

17. sorry gully...Granny D doesnt like Democrats either

have a nice day

[gully]

19. Really? She's backing Kucinich...

have a nice day...

[buddhamama]

18. and she walked thousands of miles

but i ain't about to do that.sorry

i have nothing but the utmost respect for the Lady but i won't say or do *whatever* GrannyD says or does.
and to be truthful i don't think she'd want me to,either.

[gully]

22. Granny D and Ronnie Dugger think we are facing a national emergency

Here's a quote from another speech...

"I happen to love Ralph Nader. He is a friend of mine. Another friend of mine, historian and founder of the Alliance for Democracy, Ronnie Dugger, recently went over to Ralph's office in Washington to ask him to not run in 2004. Ronnie, whom I first met in jail, is of the opinion that we are facing a national emergency and that our nation is at risk of losing its free democracy. I fully agree with him. (How could I not agree; I was in jail with him for reading aloud from the Declaration of Independence in the Capitol Rotunda.)

Ronnie supported Ralph in the last election, but he does not want to see a second Bush term. I'm sure Mr. Nader would not like to think of a second Bush presidency, either."

She seems to feel it's important not to split 'our' vote in the coming election. I am certain not everyone will agree with her. I think that's a shame as the implications of another 4 years of Shrub are so dire. I think we must vote our conscience, but I would hope the conscience of most Greens, Progressives, Liberals and Democrats would be in-sync given the circumstances.

I think in the Clinton years, there was time for idealism. I think in the Bush years, there's no time anything but a return to sanity.

Like I say...it's a matter of priorities. We just have to decide what they are I guess..